I'm a Libertarian living in Humboldt County, CA. I've lived here in Eureka since 1973 and joined the Libertarian Party in 1992. This blog will mostly focus on local political issues, but I may stray into state and national issues as well, when I can't help myself. Please post your comments by clicking on the "comments" link at the bottom of each post. Although I do moderate comments, you need not be a registered user to post them.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Eureka Utility Tax On The Ballot

Looks like Eureka's Utility Tax will be on the ballot in November. The tax, billed as temporary when it was approved by voters years ago, passed by a fairly close vote last time around.

Looks like the council, led for the most part by Chris Kerrigan, is trying to remove a cap placed on how much some businesses have to pay and remove an exemption for seniors.

No mention made of other proposals made by the City Finance Committee to expand the number of utilities the tax is applied to and increase the tax itself. I wonder if that needs to be on the ballot as well, or if the council can just do that unilaterally?

Opponents of this tax from its inception, myself being one of them, were right: Once this tax was passed, it would never go away, at least if the powers that be had their way. There's no such thing as a temporary tax. It will also be raised and expanded as time goes on.

What will be interesting is to see what sort of campaign the city and the public employee unions run to get the tax continued. I suppose it will be the same old thing we've always seen with pictures of cops and firefighters begging to not lose their jobs.

We needed to nip this thing in the bud when it was first passed. We didn't. We almost did the last time around. If we have a last chance to end this tax, it will be this November. Let's make it happen.